CLEAR

  • CLEAR Website
  • Regulatory News Home
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
  • Calendar of Events
  • Contact

Search

| More

Categories

  • Administration
  • Agency reports
  • alternate pathways to licensure
  • CLEAR Announcements
  • CLEAR Resources
  • Consolidation proposals
  • Continuing competence
  • Court Cases
  • cultural competence
  • Current Affairs
  • Deregulation proposals
  • discrimination in regulation
  • diversity
  • Education and training
  • Entry to practice
  • ERAC Q&A Series
  • Examination issues
  • Facilities regulation
  • Fees/Budget
  • Foreign-trained applicants
  • Health of the practitioner
  • investigations/inspections
  • Media and public communication
  • Mobility
  • Performance and legislative audits
  • President's Message
  • Professional discipline
  • quality assurance
  • Re-entry to practice
  • Regulation by Country
  • Regulation during disaster/emergency
  • Regulation of new professions
  • Regulatory appointments
  • regulatory reform
  • Reports on Professions
  • Research
  • right-touch regulation
  • Scope of practice
  • social media and regulation
  • Standards of practice
  • Strategic planning
  • Sunrise reviews
  • Sunset reviews
  • Technology
  • Telemedicine
  • Transparency
  • unlicensed practice
  • Upcoming Events
  • use of title
  • workforce shortage/access to care
See More

Previous Issues

  • CLEAR News

Archives

  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018

Indiana: consolidation bill meets criticism

A bill under consideration in Indiana would consolidate several licensing agencies and eliminate others, such as hearing aid dealers and auctioneers. In hearings, the Indiana Midwives Association spoke against moving the Certified Direct Entry Midwifery Committee under the Board of Nursing. Representatives also spoke against eliminating the committee of hearing aid dealer examiners, citing safety concerns of unlicensed practice.

Read more

February 06, 2019 in Consolidation proposals, Deregulation proposals | Permalink

Arkansas: agency consolidation proposal

The Arkansas governor has released a proposal to consolidate 42 state agencies down to 15 in an effort to "allow for increased coordination within similar programs, . . . improved management control,. . . and more support and accountability" to the boards. The state Department of Finance and Administration has estimated annual savings of $15 million beginning in fiscal year 2021. Health-related regulatory boards would be placed in the Department of Health. Other occupational and professional licensing commissions and boards would merge into a newly created Department of Labor and Licensing. The proposal indicates that boards would maintain their supervisory licensing authority and that their special revenues would stay in place.

Read more

October 11, 2018 in Consolidation proposals | Permalink

Missouri bill would establish strict requirements for future regulations

A bill passed in the Missouri General Assembly and awaiting the governor's signature would establish strict requirements for proposals to regulate new professions. All bills to regulate an occupation or profession would be reviewed according to the following criteria:

  • Unregulated practice could cause harm and endanger the general welfare, and the potential for further harm and endangerment is recognizable;
  • The public can reasonably be expected to benefit from an assurance of personal qualifications; and
  • The general welfare cannot be sufficiently protected by other means.

Within two weeks of filing a bill for a new regulation, the Department of Professional Registration would be required to submit information to the General Assembly on:

  • the number of individuals subject to regulation and information about the associations and organizations representing the practitioners
  • why the public is not qualified to select a competence practitioner without assurances of qualifications
  • the nature and extent of potential harm, including descriptions of any complaints against practitioners within the past five years
  • a description of voluntary efforts made by the practitioners to protect the public and why these are inadequate
  • economic impact of the regulation, including direct cost to the government and indirect costs to consumers
  • projected increase or decrease in availability of services to the public
  • why existing legal remedies are inadequate to address harm
  • list of other states that regulate the profession, copies of their laws, and evidence of the effect of the regulation
  • details of previous efforts in the state to regulate the profession
  • national industry standards of minimal competence and whether the proposals exceeds these
  • method to finance the regulation and associated financial data

The bill also covers a broad range of issues related to redefining "certification" to be a governmental function, limiting the right to use the title "registered" to those required to be registered with the state, suicide prevention training for health care professionals, updating definitions related to dietitians, transferring duties of the Interior Design Council to the Division of Professional Registration, repealing good moral character requirement for barbers, reciprocity for cosmetology licenses, establishing registration for hair braiders, allowing an intervention program for nurses with substance use disorder, and establishing psychology interjurisdictional compact for telepsychology.

Read the bill summary or full bill text

June 05, 2018 in Administration, Consolidation proposals, Entry to practice, Mobility, regulatory reform, use of title | Permalink

British Columbia: nursing colleges to merge

Amendments to the Health Professions Act will allow the College of Registered Psychiatric Nurses of BC, College of Licensed Practical Nurses of BC, and College of Registered Nurses of BC to amalgamate, providing greater consistency and one point of contact for nursing professionals and patients. The legislation will allow for the appointment of an administrator for a health professional college. The amendments will also allow infection control breaches to be reported directly to public health officials instead of through the college investigation process.

Read more

October 31, 2017 in Consolidation proposals | Permalink

Update: Kentucky board reorganization delayed

Thirty-nine Kentucky licensing boards have been notified that an anticipated July 1 executive order to reorganize the boards has been delayed without a new effective date yet established. The Public Protection Cabinet indicates that they "continue to fine tune the reorganization plan."

Read more

June 28, 2017 in Consolidation proposals, regulatory reform | Permalink

Kentucky governor considers reorganization of regulatory boards

Kentucky's governor has indicated plans to sign an executive order that would include consolidation of several boards and change the way executive directors are appointed to the boards. Proposed changes would allow the governor to appoint executive directors to the boards, with one director overseeing several boards. The number of members on the boards would be reduced to five. Kentucky's attorney general plans to challenge the governor's authority to reorganize the professional boards. Concerns about the restructuring have been raised related to staffing, control of funds and representation on the boards.

Read more

June 21, 2017 in Administration, Consolidation proposals, regulatory reform | Permalink

Two Oregon state boards could merge

The Oregon Board of Psychology and the Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists would merge staffs if the governor's proposed budget is approved. The proposed budget is a 21% increase from the 2015-2017 budgets for both boards and also includes an upgrade to the online database system and an additional two staff members. Under the merger, both boards would keep separate funding streams and expenditures. The merger would allow additional staff to be assigned to licensing issues and complaint handling for the growing number of licensees. Another part of the proposal is a $40 increase in licensure renewal fees for counselors and therapists, fees which have not been increased since 2002.

Read more

March 29, 2017 in Consolidation proposals, Fees/Budget | Permalink

UK to consider health regulator merger

The Health Secretary in the UK is publishing a consultation paper on a proposed merger of the health regulatory bodies. Under the proposal, nine health regulators could be consolidated into one new super-regulator to oversee over a million health professionals, some of the regulators could be merged, or the nine regulators could remain separate but work more closely together.

Read more

February 13, 2017 in Consolidation proposals, regulatory reform | Permalink

Ohio considers consolidation of medical licensing boards

Legislation currently under consideration in the Ohio House and Senate would consolidate the 16 medical licensing boards down to eight and eliminate 88 board member positions. The Department of Administrative Services would also be given the authority to void board actions seen as price-fixing or restricting competition. Legislation is in response to the U.S. Supreme Court antitrust ruling in 2014. Dieticians and respiratory therapists would fall under the Medical Board; home medical equipment would fall under the Pharmacy Board; psychologists, chemical dependency professionals and counselors, social workers and marriage and family therapists would all fall under the Behavioral Health Professionals Board; speech language pathologists and audiologists, optometrists, optical dispensers and hearing aid dealers would fall under the Vision and Hearing Professional Board; and occupational and physical therapists, athletic trainers, and orthotic and prosthetic specialists would fall under the Physical Health Services Board. Some legislators hope to pass the bill in the last three weeks of the session.

Read more

November 29, 2016 in Consolidation proposals | Permalink

Update: Vermont Agency of Education to continue licensing SLPs

House Bill H. 562 has passed the Vermont Senate with amendments that will not consolidate licensing of speech language pathologists under the Office of Professional Regulation. SLPs working in education settings will still be required to obtain an SLP license from OPR and a teaching license and endorsement from the Agency of Education. Also, the legislation as it passed excludes the AOE from providing data to consider whether all their licensing functions would be better moved to OPR.

Read more

May 10, 2016 in Administration, Consolidation proposals | Permalink

Recent Posts

  • Ohio: sunset review law signed
  • Utah: audit finds issues with controlled substance database
  • South Carolina not pursuing complaints about use of "engineer" title
  • Indiana bill considers reduction in board sizes
  • Iowa and Texas begin Physical Therapy Licensure Compact
  • Arizona considers "universal licensing recognition"
  • VA DPOR director removed
  • CA Board of Registered Nurses requests additional funding
  • Professional Engineers Ontario appoints new registrar
  • CA: new director for Osteopathic Medical Board
Blog powered by Typepad